Separation of light naptha by adsorption processes

• Author(s): Bárcia, Patrick da Silva ; Rodrigues, Alírio ; Silva, José A.C.
• Date: 2012
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10198/7123
• Origin: Biblioteca Digital do IPB
• Subject(s): Light naphtha; Hexane isomers
• Document Type: Conference object
• Language: English
• Contributor(s): Biblioteca Digital do IPB

Description

In this work we studied the separation linear/mono/di-branched paraffins in a cyclic Pressure Swing Adsorption process using a layered bed of zeolites 5A and Beta (Figure 1). Zeolite Beta proved to be an efficient separator of mono-branched from di-branched paraffins [3]. Aspen ADSIM (AspenTech Inc.) was used for numerically solve an adiabatic dynamic model incorporating mass, energy and momentum balances. Model parameters were taken from experimental data obtained in our lab. The studies were performed with the objective to determine how process performance is affected by purge quantity, 5A-to-Beta ratio, repressurization/blowdown schemes and operating temperature which are typical operating parameters of PSA processes. Figure 2 shows the product average RON as a function of the zeolite 5A layer length and purge-to-feed ratio at T = 523 K, where it can be seen that RON is above 90 when the ratio of the layered bed is nearly 0.6. It was also demonstrated that a slight increase in temperature (20 K) results in a RON benefit of 0.2 points. Several alternatives are also provided to improve the performance of the existing TIP processes with this combination of adsorbents [4].